Independent Amico Discussion Thread

[Tonytgd]

3 minutes ago, MrBeefy said:

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/266480-new-atari-console-that-ataribox/

 

 

 

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/266480-new-atari-console-that-ataribox/?do=findComment&comment=3898856

 

OMG that reminds me of the Futurama episode where Zoidberg invests in a sandwich instead of the company.

[MrBeefy]

Just now, Tonytgd said:

OMG that reminds me of the Futurama episode where Zoidberg invests in a sandwich instead of the company.

Well the next 900 plus pages is a glorious taco atari meme fest. Some don't understand it. They are sad sad people. Basically its a thread about having fun because Atari couldn't get their crap together. That one post is what started the tacos.

[Tonytgd]

Just now, MrBeefy said:

Well the next 900 plus pages is a glorious taco atari meme fest. Some don't understand it. They are sad sad people. Basically its a thread about having fun because Atari couldn't get their crap together. That one post is what started the tacos.

Some people just don't understand internet culture. Lots of old men yelling at clouds. That said, can I express how much I miss forums and hate the current Reddit/Discord system we have now a days?

[SegaSnatcher]

Will the LEDs actually make it to final hardware?   I think I saw a prototype with LEDs on the actual console and the controller.   I'm all about a light show.

[+kevtris]

7 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

It is weird. I haven't discussed this two much but I think the Breakout has been the best overall demo.

 

Night Stalker looks neat but may be too busy.

 

I have the opposite feeling of Astrosmash. I feel like it looked super slow. Even my wife was like, "That looks easy." I know its an early demo but I felt like the asteroids didn't look quite right. Especially the ones that floated back up when shot. I'm assuming the ones that say TEMP on them will have the words removed. If the plan is not to remove that I would. Unless there's a good reason for that to be on there. But speed wise just compare the original footage to the new. The only reason they died in the video is that they made boneheaded moves.

I was thinking the same thing.  The constantly shifting perspective and zoom on Night Stalker is going to make some people motion sick I think.  I was having a really hard time following it because of this.   The walls "growing" when you get near them seems to serve no purpose other than looks, and it seems to be an impediment to players who are behind one, because it grows and obscures your view of your player.  I didn't even see the bats the first time I watched it, because they blend in with the shadows most of the time.  They could use a white/grey outline to make them stand out I think.  Multiplayer mode on it seems to just be the same as single player with regards to everyone just doing their own thing all at once instead of i.e. taking turns.  I know this is early and extra modes might be added to make multiplayer be more than that.  The play area seems pretty cramped for the three players shown and maybe the play area could be increased in size as player count goes up?  Maybe dial back the explosions or have an "explode-o-meter" slider that lets you control how big they are.

 

The second level really dialed it up though and added that flashing/sweeping effect that doesn't add anything to the gameplay and just acts as more visual noise/distraction.  There's a lot of flashing and throbbing going on which draws your attention, but has no gameplay significance.  This could be a problem for epileptics who are sensitive to flashing things.  I liked the music and audio though, this was well done IMO.  What is the "end condition" for winning a level?  Is it lasting long enough, or do you have to shoot enough stuff?  I couldn't quite figure it out.

 

As for Astrosmash, it suffers from a similar issue but fortunately it's only the background now that is randomly shifting around.   I was looking to see if it followed the players but doesn't seem to, it just is constantly zooming and shifting for some reason.   The tanks should be colour coded or look unique somehow so players can tell each other apart;  I assume this will be added at some point as this is just an early demo.  As with Night Stalker, it is just multiple players doing their own independent thing with no real competition or common goal in mind but as before I know it's an early demo.  Some of the explosions are way over the top and this game could also use the "explode-o-meter"(tm) slider I think.

 

Looking forward to seeing more demos!

 

[mr_me]

Apparently the walls in Amico Night Stalker are alive and in future levels become part of the gameplay.  The slight shifting perspectives reminds me of Tempest 2k.  They serve no purpose, and the games could do without them but Tempest 2k seems to have been well received. Intellivision Star Strike and Sub Hunt had shaking screens, they didn't bother me at all and were a nice special effect.  Night Stalker and most amico games will have both coop and versus modes. 

 

And there's seperate topic threads here for discussing the Amico night stalker and astrosmash videos.

Edited February 3, 2020 by mr_me

[+Razzie.P]

On 1/27/2020 at 9:23 AM, MrBeefy said:

What about games?

Games will be curated by IE. The goal is for every game to be at least a 7 out of 10. The goal is to have less focus on graphics and more on a fun and unique gaming experience.

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe I just suck at searching and/or I'm lazy, but couldn't find details on that bit.    What does that "7 out of 10" thing mean, really?  A game has to be scored that by the "in house" curators at IE before it gets released, or they're banking on 7 out of 10 metacritic score post release?  Or something different?

[Tonytgd]

Haven't plowed through all 270+ pages of the other thread so forgive me if this been discussed...

Do we know about how long games like EWJ are expected to be?

[mr_me]

Hopefully not too long.  I like to finish games in one sitting.

 

You can search that thread for any game title or keyword you like.

[+GrudgeQ]

8 hours ago, SegaSnatcher said:

Will the LEDs actually make it to final hardware?   I think I saw a prototype with LEDs on the actual console and the controller.   I'm all about a light show.

I think that is a 100% yes. The lights on the controllers & console are going to be used to enhance the gameplay, point out the active player, show status conditions, etc. They are being closely integrated with the game play (although Tommy said in an early interview can optionally turn off the console LEDs if you don't like them).

[Tonytgd]

53 minutes ago, mr_me said:

Hopefully not too long.  I like to finish games in one sitting.

 

You can search that thread for any game title or keyword you like.

I know but no "new" games aside from EWJ have been announced so I didn't know if it was even touched on yet. 

 

That said, Im curious if the Karma Engine will get tiresome.

[Nolagamer]

1 hour ago, Tonytgd said:

I know but no "new" games aside from EWJ have been announced so I didn't know if it was even touched on yet. 

 

That said, Im curious if the Karma Engine will get tiresome.

Ecco the dolphin

[mr_me]

I thought beating up on weaker opponents is tiresome.  You could probably turn the karma engine off if that's what you want.

Edited February 3, 2020 by mr_me

[Tonytgd]

18 minutes ago, mr_me said:

I thought beating up on weaker opponents is tiresome.  You could probably turn the karma engine off if that's what you want.

I like to win ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[+RetroAdvisoryBoard]

14 hours ago, Tonytgd said:

As someone who writes about video games and talks to people in and around the industry I am seeing some odd happenings from smaller YT creators in regards to the Amico. Understandably a smaller channel getting a chance to chat with a CEO of a gaming company is huge but I wonder if it will influence opinions? The internet is quick to call people shills, I should know as I have been called one many times, so it will be interesting to see what comes of this.

I've pulled every video tagged Intellivision or Amico via YouTube's search, at last count in mid January over 200 videos.  Conducting analysis on the comment distribution as well.  You might say I have odd hobbies.  But also, I've been writing scripts for my own videos focusing on Amico and its chief criticisms, and wanted to be thorough, so there was some overlap.  It's a good 8 hours putting together the spreadsheet if you have no idea for how you'd want to spend a Saturday or an all-day Amtrak trip.  

 

I think what you see is videos that have a negative take generally illicit a similar response from their audience.  Initially.  But there is seldom any follow-up.  There are hundreds of hours of interviews, plus hundreds of pages of forum replies, reddit entries and social media posts and comments to dig through.. and among smaller channels, what you see a greater information drip and what looks to be transparency.  Where smaller YT creators do follow-up, they tend to turn around.  More news, regular updates appear to filter to them and change opinions.  Also the mandatory reply from Intellivision's CEO.  No doubt, being in touch with a console manufacturer's President/CEO is going to have some persuasive merit, but not totally.  Fair skeptics remain fair skeptics.

 

Do they come across as shills for Amico?  Perhaps to some viewers.  But collectively they get overwhelmingly positive responses and comments on their videos.  Suggesting the audience, their audience, does not view them as shills.  Many have smaller niche audiences, but even the larger interviews with Rich Masucci (ReviewTechUSA) and Shane Luis (Rerez/Hot Take) and coverage by larger YT creators like Shawn Long (RGT85) have more mix in their comments on the outlook and a highly positive like-to-dislike ratio (2-5% dislikes)  While the only larger YouTube channel with a negative outlook on the Amico, Pat Contri and Ian Ferguson (Completely Unnecessary Podcast/Pat the NES Punk) has a much higher dislike-to-like ratio (12-25% dislikes) on those videos and comments are generally pessimistic or recycling insider jokes/points.  Considering comments are most likely to be left by their subscribers, the oddity I think is in audience adoption of the content creator's assessment.  It's a built-in audience bias.  Generally people do not seek out a content creator because of their opinion on a niche product in development.  So therein, I'd be curious to know what you find going on that is so odd about the smaller YT creators.  How do you define a smaller TY content creator?  Have larger content creators, to your knowledge, taken on the subject of the console in development?  If so, have they differed in approach from the oddities you've noticed with smaller creators?  Any examples?

 

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by RetroAdvisoryBoard

[+RetroAdvisoryBoard]

1 hour ago, Tonytgd said:

I know but no "new" games aside from EWJ have been announced so I didn't know if it was even touched on yet. 

 

That said, Im curious if the Karma Engine will get tiresome.

 

There have been new games teased.  Just as much details given as for the new EWJ game announced (actually more, because they've been in development and have some discussion of gameplay and concept):

 

• The Ecco successor (or spiritual successor)
• The Running Man endless runner is a new IP with variances from common mobile runners, multiplayer of course which already changes up that formula quite a lot.
• There's a Circus-themed game taking inspiration from Angry Birds/Towerfall - flinging clowns across the screen, but we assume more options than that, all with a circus theme.
• There is a new IP/new format game titled (tentatively) "Back Chat Party" in the GDC reveal back in August.  Wordplay/songplay, maybe repeating things backwards, not sure.  Looks like a party game probably integrating voice control.
• There is a brand new IP based on Mattel's Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash/Colossal Crash high speed intersecting tracks.

[Tonytgd]

9 minutes ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

 

There have been new games teased.  Just as much details given as for the new EWJ game announced (actually more, because they've been in development and have some discussion of gameplay and concept):

 

• The Ecco successor (or spiritual successor)
• The Running Man endless runner is a new IP with variances from common mobile runners, multiplayer of course which already changes up that formula quite a lot.
• There's a Circus-themed game taking inspiration from Angry Birds/Towerfall - flinging clowns across the screen, but we assume more options than that, all with a circus theme.
• There is a new IP/new format game titled (tentatively) "Back Chat Party" in the GDC reveal back in August.  Wordplay/songplay, maybe repeating things backwards, not sure.  Looks like a party game probably integrating voice control.
• There is a brand new IP based on Mattel's Hot Wheels Criss Cross Crash/Colossal Crash high speed intersecting tracks.

Allow me to clarify...new games with defined ends, as oppossed to games with looping levels. I used EWJ as my example because I think it is fair to assume there will be a final boss and game over screen. 

[Tonytgd]

52 minutes ago, RetroAdvisoryBoard said:

I've pulled every video tagged Intellivision or Amico via YouTube's search, at last count in mid January over 200 videos.  Conducting analysis on the comment distribution as well.  You might say I have odd hobbies.  But also, I've been writing scripts for my own videos focusing on Amico and its chief criticisms, and wanted to be thorough, so there was some overlap.  It's a good 8 hours putting together the spreadsheet if you have no idea for how you'd want to spend a Saturday or an all-day Amtrak trip.  

 

I think what you see is videos that have a negative take generally illicit a similar response from their audience.  Initially.  But there is seldom any follow-up.  There are hundreds of hours of interviews, plus hundreds of pages of forum replies, reddit entries and social media posts and comments to dig through.. and among smaller channels, what you see a greater information drip and what looks to be transparency.  Where smaller YT creators do follow-up, they tend to turn around.  More news, regular updates appear to filter to them and change opinions.  Also the mandatory reply from Intellivision's CEO.  No doubt, being in touch with a console manufacturer's President/CEO is going to have some persuasive merit, but not totally.  Fair skeptics remain fair skeptics.

 

Do they come across as shills for Amico?  Perhaps to some viewers.  But collectively they get overwhelmingly positive responses and comments on their videos.  Suggesting the audience, their audience, does not view them as shills.  Many have smaller niche audiences, but even the larger interviews with Rich Masucci (ReviewTechUSA) and Shane Luis (Rerez/Hot Take) and coverage by larger YT creators like Shawn Long (RGT85) have more mix in their comments on the outlook and a highly positive like-to-dislike ratio (2-5% dislikes)  While the only larger YouTube channel with a negative outlook on the Amico, Pat Contri and Ian Ferguson (Completely Unnecessary Podcast/Pat the NES Punk) has a much higher dislike-to-like ratio (12-25% dislikes) on those videos and comments are generally pessimistic or recycling insider jokes/points.  Considering comments are most likely to be left by their subscribers, the oddity I think is in audience adoption of the content creator's assessment.  It's a built-in audience bias.  Generally people do not seek out a content creator because of their opinion on a niche product in development.  So therein, I'd be curious to know what you find going on that is so odd about the smaller YT creators.  How do you define a smaller TY content creator?  Have larger content creators, to your knowledge, taken on the subject of the console in development?  If so, have they differed in approach from the oddities you've noticed with smaller creators?  Any examples?

 

 

Have you checked that these channels don't delete negative comments? "Troll" comments? 

 

The oddities I speak of are the way certain smaller (10k subs and below) all suddenly are all in on the Amico. People too young to have played Intellivision or its contemporaries are suddenly giddy with excitement for a new Intellivision system. Hardcore gamers with no kids promoting the family friendly aspect. Just seems odd.

 

Edit: you commented on 1 such channel...

 

Edited February 3, 2020 by Tonytgd
Adding

[mr_me]

What's odd about supporting a family friendly system.  Who would be against that, even if you don't have a family.

 

Best thing to do is ignore all public comments at the bottom of an article or video.  It's not representative of anything.

Edited February 3, 2020 by mr_me

[1001lives]

36 minutes ago, Tonytgd said:

Have you checked that these channels don't delete negative comments? "Troll" comments? 

 

The oddities I speak of are the way certain smaller (10k subs and below) all suddenly are all in on the Amico. People too young to have played Intellivision or its contemporaries are suddenly giddy with excitement for a new Intellivision system. Hardcore gamers with no kids promoting the family friendly aspect. Just seems odd.

 

Edit: you commented on 1 such channel...

 

That's the channels right to delete negative or hateful/troll comments. What difference would it make anyway?

 

I don't understand why you are looking so hard into this. There's nothing odd about being excited about something new.

[+Tommy Tallarico]

7 minutes ago, mr_me said:

What's odd about supporting a family friendly system.  Who would be against that, even if you don't have a family.

Is the answer... someone who was so humiliated that he now has an even greater chip on his shoulder and feels the need to even the score in his mind?



 

[+RetroAdvisoryBoard]

35 minutes ago, Tonytgd said:

Have you checked that these channels don't delete negative comments? "Troll" comments? 

 

The oddities I speak of are the way certain smaller (10k subs and below) all suddenly are all in on the Amico. People too young to have played Intellivision or its contemporaries are suddenly giddy with excitement for a new Intellivision system. Hardcore gamers with no kids promoting the family friendly aspect. Just seems odd.

 

Edit: you commented on 1 such channel...

 

I comment on almost all of these channels 🙂

 

I think Turbo Joe - Old School Gaming is about the right age to have exposure to the system in the mid 80s when it would've been a bargain option, by the way.  INTV still existed in Radio Shacks through the late 80s and would've been accessible to young gamers not yet tied into Nintendo.  By 1988, Nintendo had only sold about 4-5 million units in North America, before sales exploded in 1988 and it raked in as many sales as the C64 had made in its 5 years on the market.  And if not Intellivision, to that graphical experience and similar gameplay on the Atari 2600 (the second-leading console by sales in the US through 1990 before Genesis overtook it).  So maybe the nostalgia for "Intellivision" isn't so strong, but they may have an affinity for similar gaming. 

 

I can only take Turbo Joe at his word here.  He said he threw out a response video, he was dismissive and happy to be a little derisive of the proposed console, but didn't know much about it.  I think you see a number of smaller channels (under 1000 subscribers) responding with hot takes before they really grasped the concept or pitch.  Which is fine, they respond to video game news 2-5 times per week.  They're not experts, they just call em as they see them.  Insert Tommy Tallarico, in the comments with a clarification, and they do have that access to a CEO/President and a games manufacturer/business insider.. perhaps that does illicit the double-take.  But that I don't get as odd - just misinformed.  And perhaps Tommy isn't the best informer considering his bias here, but anyone with a good deal of knowledge is going to be enthusiastic about the console, or jaded and very dismissive for reasons.

 

When the system is closer to launch and more coverage emerges than can be given the 1:1 treatment in the comments, perhaps that narrative changes.  But I mostly see uninformed reactions leading to better informed (at least of the console's pitch by its pitchman).  It's fair to inquire how much is celebrity mystique.  I don't think it's as much, but, we'll all have to watch and see what transpires over the summer.  

 

You'll have a lot of articles to write. 

[Tonytgd]

37 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Is the answer... someone who was so humiliated that he now has an even greater chip on his shoulder and feels the need to even the score in his mind?



 

I look forward to my staff reviewing your upcoming console. I myself am unable to do so due to the obvious conflict of interest. 

[Tonytgd]

40 minutes ago, 1001lives said:

That's the channels right to delete negative or hateful/troll comments. What difference would it make anyway?

 

I don't understand why you are looking so hard into this. There's nothing odd about being excited about something new.

Deleting comments is their right, if you read what I replied to then you would know why I brought it up.

[SegaSnatcher]

I do have to question the choices INTV is making as of late in terms of interviews.   I would think at this point Tommy would be trying to get some of the bigger youtube channels to do interviews with as they have far more reach than some youtuber with 1K subs.  Why not try and go after the likes of MJR, RGT 85, ReviewTechUSA, Digital Foundry, Gamespot, or IGN?  

No disrespect to those small youtubers, but they can't really do much in terms of getting the word out about Amico, so in reality it seems like a waste of time for Tommy when I would believe his goal right now would be to start and hit those big time gaming channels/sites to help get the word out across a bigger audience.  

Edit: Looks like Tommy did do an interview with ReviewTechUSA, but that was back in 2018, but yeah this who I feel he should prioritize doing interviews with, people who can actually get the Amico name across a large audience.

Edited February 3, 2020 by SegaSnatcher